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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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July 15th,
2009 - Israeli Soldiers: ‘No Clear Red Lines’ in Gaza War |
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Israeli Soldiers:
‘No Clear Red Lines’ in Gaza War By Steve Weizman Associated Press July 15, 2009 Jerusalem - Israeli soldiers
who fought in last winter's Gaza War say the military used Palestinians as
human shields, improperly fired incendiary white phosphorous shells over
civilian areas and used overwhelming firepower that caused needless deaths
and destruction, according to a report released Wednesday. The testimonies were by far
the strongest allegations to come from war veterans that the army used
excessive force during the three-week offensive and echoed claims already
leveled by Palestinian and human rights groups. The military rebutted the
report, saying the accounts were anonymous and impossible to verify. The accounts of 26 war
veterans were collected by Breaking the Silence, an organization of Israeli
army reservists critical of their country's treatment of Palestinians. They
described demolishing buildings, vandalizing homes and using more than
essential firepower, given the relatively light resistance they encountered.
One said the army needlessly used white phosphorous, a masking agent that can
cause severe burns, for smokescreens. Others said regulations for opening
fire were vague, and that soldiers were expected to do whatever was necessary
to protect themselves. "There were no clear
red lines," one soldier told the group. "If you're not sure, kill.
Fire power was insane," said another. Military officers have
acknowledged that rules of engagement were relaxed to minimize army
casualties but insisted civilians were never targeted. Israel launched the
blistering offensive last December after thousands of rocket attacks by
Palestinian militants on southern Israel over an eight-year period. More than
1,400 Palestinians, including at least 900 civilians, were killed in the
fighting, thousands of homes were destroyed and Gaza's infrastructure was
battered, according to Gaza health officials and human rights groups. Israel
puts the death toll closer to 1,100 and says most were armed fighters.
Thirteen Israelis were killed, including three civilians who died from rocket
fire. Wednesday's report was sure
to fuel a debate that still rages six months after the offensive over whether
Israel violated the rules of war. International rights groups, including
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have said the degree of force and
heavy civilian death toll constituted war crimes, and the U.N. has launched a
probe, headed by a respected war crimes prosecutor, into the actions of
Israel and Hamas. Human rights groups say Hamas committed war crimes by
firing rockets at civilian areas in Israel. Israel maintains that
responsibility for the carnage lies with Hamas, which it says cached
ammunition in schools and mosques, blended in with the general population and
used civilian areas and public buildings for cover. The Israeli military said it
"regrets the fact that yet another human rights organization is
presenting to Israel and the world a report based on anonymous and general
testimonies, without investigating their details or credibility." The
military also said that since no identifying details were given, it was
impossible to verify the accounts. It urged soldiers to come forward and
register official complaints. Defense Minister Ehud Barak
reiterated his belief that the Israeli military "is one of the world's
most moral armies and operates according to the highest moral code." Ismail Haniyeh, the leader
of the Hamas government in Gaza, said the report "reflects the crimes
committed in Gaza," and called on "human rights bodies and
international groups" to put Israel's leaders on trial. Wednesday's 110-page report,
which also included videotaped testimonies in which soldiers' faces were
blurred out, did not represent a cross-section of the army. Rather, they were
troops who approached the group or were reached through acquaintances of
group members. Two were junior officers and the rest were lower-ranking
personnel. It did not examine Hamas' actions. Many questioned the
overwhelming use of force. One soldier said the army used weapons like
mortars and white phosphorous "to show off its strength." Another
soldier said white phosphorus artillery shells were used to ignite a house
suspected of housing munitions. "The house went up in flames," he
said. Israel has said it used
white phosphorus munitions only outside of crowded areas and only as a
smokescreen to protect forces. But New York-based Human Rights Watch says
Israel fired white phosphorous shells indiscriminately over densely populated
areas in what amounts to a war crime. Breaking the Silence said it
decided to protect the identity of the soldiers, noting that many are still
in the military and could face punishment for speaking out. But spokesman
Mikhael Manekin said the accounts included enough information for the army to
figure out which units were involved. "If there is ever an
inquiry, the witnesses will gladly testify," he said. An internal
military probe earlier this year found no systematic wrongdoing on the part
of the army. A few other soldiers have
come forward with similar second-hand testimony since the operation. But
overall, the Israeli public believes the Gaza operation was necessary to halt
the rocket fire and think their military is singled out for unfair criticism. Some testimonies provided a
glimpse at the complex battlefield the soldiers faced as they pushed into
densely populated territory, fearing booby-trapped houses and alleyway
ambushes and unable to tell civilians from combatants. Hamas had promised to
make Gaza a "graveyard" for the Israelis. One soldier quoted his
commander as saying, "I am not willing to allow a soldier of mine to
risk himself by hesitating." But most focused on what
they saw as improper behavior, like the vandalism of Palestinian property or
the use of civilians as human shields - a practice the army itself has
banned. "Sometimes the force
would enter while placing rifle barrels on a civilian's shoulder, advancing
into a house and using him as a human shield. Commanders said these were the
instructions and we had to do it," one soldier said. Another said that soldiers
would shoot at houses and water tanks from boredom. "At one point, an
officer decided to give a grenade-throwing training exercise. He put the
soldiers in a house and they threw grenades inside until it was completely
destroyed," he said. Other accounts described soldiers drawing obscene
graffiti on the walls of occupied houses, or using bulldozers to
systematically destroy homes. Copyright © 2009 The
Associated Press. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ioi_0jtO9RjMwPNRoXNCndRPRq3gD99F2RCO0 |